Duende (mythology) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

A duende is a fairy

Fairy

A fairy is a type of mythical being or legendary creature, a form of spirit, often described as metaphysical, supernatural or preternatural.Fairies resemble various beings of other mythologies, though even folklore that uses the term...

- or goblin

Goblin

A goblin is a legendary evil or mischievous illiterate creature, a grotesquely evil or evil-like phantom.They are attributed with various abilities, temperaments and appearances depending on the story and country of origin. In some cases, goblins have been classified as constantly annoying little...

-like mythological creature from Iberian

Iberian

Iberian refers to Iberia, which has two basic meanings, the disused, of Caucasian Iberia , and the modern sense of someone or something originating in the Iberian Peninsula, namely from Portugal and Spain...

, Latin American and Filipino

Culture of the Philippines

Philippine culture is related to Micronesian, Bornean, Mexican and Spanish cultures. The people today are mostly of Malayo-Polynesian origin, although there are people with Spanish, Mexican, Austro-Melanesian and Chinese blood. Geographically, the Philippines is considered part of Southeast Asia...

folklore. While its nature varies throughout Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, Portugal

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

, Spanish and Portuguese-speaking America

Americas

The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...

and the Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

, analogues from other cultures include the Danish-Norwegian Nisse

Tomte

A tomte , nisse or tonttu is a mythical creature of Scandinavian folklore. The tomte or nisse was believed to take care of a farmer's home and children and protect them from misfortune, in particular at night, when the housefolk were asleep...

, the French lutin

Lutin

A lutin is a type of hobgoblin in French folklore and fairy tales. Female lutins are called lutines.A lutin plays a similar role in the folklore of Normandy to house-spirits in England, Germany and Scandinavia...

and nain rouge

Nain Rouge

The Nain Rouge, French for "red dwarf" or "red gnome" is a mythical creature that originated in Normandy, France], as a type of lutin. In the United States, it haunts Detroit, Michigan, and is feared by its residents as "the harbinger of doom."...

, the Irish clurichaun

Clurichaun

The clurichaun , or clobhair in O'Kearney, is an Irish fairy which resembles the leprechaun. Some folklorists describe the clurichaun as a night "form" of the leprechaun, who goes out to drink after finishing his daily chores. Others regard them as regional variations on the same...

, leprechaun

Leprechaun

A leprechaun is a type of fairy in Irish folklore, usually taking the form of an old man, clad in a red or green coat, who enjoys partaking in mischief. Like other fairy creatures, leprechauns have been linked to the Tuatha Dé Danann of Irish mythology...

, and far darrig

Far darrig

A far darrig or fear dearg is a faerie of Irish mythology. The name far darrig is an Anglophone pronunciation of the Irish words fear dearg, meaning Red Man, as the far darrig is said to wear a red coat and cap...

, the Manx fenodyree

Fenodyree

Sometimes used as a proper name and sometimes as the name of a class of beings, the is like a brownie, hob, or sprite in folklore, particular around the Isle of Man.Other spellings include , , or or even , which means 'the nimble mower'...

and mooinjer veggey

Mooinjer veggey

is the Manx for little people, a term used for fairies in Gaelic lore. The equivalent Irish is Muintir Bheaga.-Manx folklore:In Manx folklore, the are small creatures from two to three feet in height, otherwise very like mortals. They wear red caps and green jackets and are most often seen on...

, the Scottish/English brownie, the Welsh tylwyth teg

Tylwyth teg

The Tylwyth Teg is the common term in Wales for fairies. A synonym, Bendith y Mamau, means "Blessing of the Mothers". Until the early 19th century it was commonly believed that the Tylwyth Teg, described as ethereal, beautiful and fair-haired, dwelt in a number of places in Wales as genii loci...

, and the Swedish Tomte

Tomte

. The etymology of the word "duende" reinforces the equivalence to the latter (tomte from tomt="home") as it shares the same origin as the Spanish word dueño, "owner" (the "real owner" of the house). As Federico García Lorca

Federico García Lorca

Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca was a Spanish poet, dramatist and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27. He is believed to be one of thousands who were summarily shot by anti-communist death squads...

uses the term, it seems closer to fairy as a realm of being. Duendes may also have some traits similar to goblins and kobold

Kobold

The kobold is a sprite stemming from Germanic mythology and surviving into modern times in German folklore. Although usually invisible, a kobold can materialise in the form of an animal, fire, a human being, and a candle. The most common depictions of kobolds show them as humanlike figures the size...

s.

The word is often considered to be the Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

equivalent of the English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

word "sprite

Sprite (creature)

The term sprite is a broad term referring to a number of preternatural legendary creatures. The term is generally used in reference to elf-like creatures, including fairies, and similar beings , but can also signify various spiritual beings, including ghosts. In Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl books,...

" or the Japanese

Japanese language

is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...

word yokai
Yokai
are a class of supernatural monsters in Japanese folklore. The word yōkai is made up of the kanji for "otherworldly" and "weird". Yōkai range eclectically from the malevolent to the mischievous, or occasionally bring good fortune to those who encounter them...

and is used as an umbrella term for any fairy-like being such as goblin

Goblin

s, pixie

Pixie

Pixies are mythical creatures of folklore, considered to be particularly concentrated in the areas around Devon and Cornwall, suggesting some Celtic origin for the belief and name.They are usually depicted with pointed ears, and often wearing a green outfit and pointed...

s and elves.

The word is also used in Portuguese

Portuguese people

The Portuguese are a nation and ethnic group native to the country of Portugal, in the west of the Iberian peninsula of south-west Europe. Their language is Portuguese, and Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion....

folklore

Folklore

Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...

, being used to describe Goblins, pixies, brownies and leprechauns. They are believed to be of a small stature wearing big hats, whistling a mystical song, while walking in the forest. Using their talent, they are believed to lure young girls to the forest causing them to lose their way home. Conversely, in some Latin cultures the Duendes are believed to be the helpers of people who get lost in the forest so they could find their way home. In the folklore of the Central American country of Belize

Belize

Belize is a constitutional monarchy and the northernmost country in Central America. Belize has a diverse society, comprising many cultures and languages. Even though Kriol and Spanish are spoken among the population, Belize is the only country in Central America where English is the official...

, particularly amongst the country's African/Carib-descended Creole

Creole peoples

The term Creole and its cognates in other languages — such as crioulo, criollo, créole, kriolu, criol, kreyol, kreol, kriulo, kriol, krio, etc. — have been applied to people in different countries and epochs, with rather different meanings...

and Garifuna populations, Duende are thought of as a forest spirit called "Tata Duende

Tata Duende

The Tata Duende is a mythical goblin of folklore of Belize, considered as a powerful spirit that protects animals and the jungle. This creature has appeared on a postage stamp of Belize as part of a series on the folklore....

" who lacks thumbs

In Hispanic folklore of Mexico and the American Southwest, duendes are known as gnome like creatures who live inside the walls of homes, especially in the bedroom walls of young children. They attempt to clip the toenails of unkempt children, often leading to the mistaken removal of entire toes. They are also known for taking items from young children. They have also been able to barter with the mother of young children so that they can take the child and have them to eat. They appear at night when children are at play with a ball, and watch the children and later make their appearance and confront the children.

Chamorro people believe in tales of taotaomonas, duendes and other spirits. Duende, according to the Chamorro-English Dictionary by Donald Topping, Pedro Ogo and Bernadita Dungca, is a goblin

Goblin

, elf

Elf

An elf is a being of Germanic mythology. The elves were originally thought of as a race of divine beings endowed with magical powers, which they use both for the benefit and the injury of mankind...

, ghost

Ghost

In traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to...

or spook in the form of a dwarf, a mischievous spirit which hides or takes small children.

Filipinos

Filipino people

The Filipino people or Filipinos are an Austronesian ethnic group native to the islands of the Philippines. There are about 92 million Filipinos in the Philippines, and about 11 million living outside the Philippines ....

also believe in Dwende, which frequently live in rocks and caves, old trees, unvisited and dark parts of houses or in ant hills where they are called nuno sa punso (old man of the mound). They are either categorized as good or evil depending on their color - white or black respectively and often play with children.

See also